COVID-19: No Herbal Drug Has Been Approved For Use - NAFDAC

No herbal drug has been approved by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for the treatment of coronavirus, the administration states.

Speaking with The PUNCH, the Director of Public Affairs, NAFDAC, Abubakar Jimoh, said that no drug had been found for use for COVID-19 treatment, and that these herbal drugs would need to undergo clinical trials before they are approved.

He said that procedures need to be take as the subjects of those drugs are humans and a concoction cannot be handed to people "just like that."

Jimoh stated that the issue with the herbal medicine industry is that hitherto, "most of them are illiterate."

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He said, “There is a procedure for everything, we are talking about human lives here, people cannot just put together concoction and expect people to consume it just like that. So far the herbal mixture will be for public consumption due diligence must be followed.

“Science is one, it does not tell lies; even if the son of the NAFDAC DG brings herbal product and the laboratory has failed it, we cannot go ahead and register it. Forget about sentiment, NAFDAC doesn’t have anything to gain by not registering herbal products. Is it not to our pride if register and certify products for consumption?

“The major problem in the herbal medicine industry is that, until recently, most of them are illiterate. They do not understand the language of science, what we are trying to do is to teach them how they can pass on this knowledge by connecting them with the academics who understand the language of science. But it is unfortunate that the illiterate person is always suspicious of the educated person, thinking he will steal his inventions.”